Ultrawerke

Modelling Tip : How to fit Chimera and Leman Russ tracks

2007-11-25T18:06:00.001+01:00

A lot of modelers have the same problem when facing a Chimera or Leman Russ kit: The tracks does not fit. No matter how much you try or how much you read the instructions, those tracks will not fit properly.

Of course, this is a well known problem, but until Games Workshop develops an alternative track sprue we need to find some solution. There are people that simply leave some missing links in the lower part, where they would not be seen, or that leave them in the upper part, covered by track guards.

As a fellow modeler asked me what I did to solve the problem, I did this quick walkthrough.

First of all, I use polystyrene cement. It allows the pieces to be adjusted after being glued. Cyanoacrylate (superglue) sets too fast for that.

I only add six road wheels, preferring to save the rest and glue the tracks to the sides.

I use the handy sanding pads from Rhino for removing sprue marks. This is important if you want the tracks to be glued to the sides.

Let's start with those links.

I start from the upper front of the track set. As I said before, I glue the tracks mainly to the sides. If a link lies on a wheel, I obviously apply glue to it. But I want the track to be parallel to the sides (If you look closely at the pic below, you would see that the end of the long track section is not in contact with the wheel, but parallel to the side).

We continue adding links with the same idea in mind.

Now it's nearly complete, we only need one of those big tracks sections.

Well, we knew it would not fit, isn't it?

And this is the trick, it is most probable that there are a lot of people already doing it, but some other would probably find it useful

Just cut the end of the track section like this:

You will end with a reduced track link.

Sand the end a little to give it a rounded shape.

And that is. A shorter link at the bottom part of your tracks. Once painted, I assure you that even if you flip your model upside down, you'll need to closely inspect the link to notice that something is wrong.

Death Korps of Krieg Trench Digger

2007-11-17T11:41:00.000+01:00

That was to be my entry at the Lt. Walke's WIP contest. Unfortunately, Real Life issues prevented me to finish on time. Not that this represents a problem for me, as I can now concentrate on the kind of detailing I prefer.

When Lt. Walke asked for support vehicles, I immediately thought on the DKOK and their bias to large maze-like trench systems. I thought that being this the future, and with all those techpriests and engineseers to help, they would have probably developed an autonomous trench-digging engine.

As it was to be set on 40K, it's clear that it would have to had some characteristics like hugeness, "clankyness", armor and firepower (being 40K I imagine that the grim Korps would dig their trenches in the middle of heavy assaults from hordes of xenos, making some last stands on their way and so)(and THIS is exactly what I really like of Warhammer 40000, mates...).

Having said that, I picked a really old and bad industrial scraper kit a bought for 5€ ages ago (I knew I would someday use it, BWAHAHAHA!) and recycled the bucket for my sacred and revered engine of construction.

I used chimera sides for the digging part and resin sides for my Ragnarok-like set. The hulls are scratchbuilt from plasticard, throwing some styrene parts from bargain 1/35 kits I hunted on eBay. As some fellow WIP pointed me, the chimera tracks looked too small and close to the sides of the freshly dug trench, so I added some extra pieces to add a winterketten-like feeling to the rear part.

The most interesting thing is that, incidentally, the front part works really well by itself, so I am planning to make some magnetized add-ons to use it as an independent engineers vehicle.

This is still a WIP, thought, a lot of work remains to be done on the rear part.

Ultrawerke is now in Spanish!

2007-11-16T20:46:00.000+01:00

Not a lot of work to show lately (although the DKOK trench digger is taking shape), but I have some important news (from my point of view).

After many mails asking me to do it, I finally decided to translate the blog to my mother tonge: Spanish.

So, if you feel more comfortable reading in Spanish just visit Ultrawerke Spanish. I hope I can translate everything in about 30 days, then the two blogs will run in parallel.

Hope you enjoy it:

Ultrawerke

Scratchbuilding tip: Barrel Rifling

2007-09-27T22:52:00.001+01:00

This scratchbuilding tip is intended for those people owning large 40K siege guns (medusa, bombard or even the most extreme example ever: Dora).

If you are real treadheads like me, you would look at your models and feel that something is missing... Yes, those huge barrels of yours are lacking any kind of inner detail. Something very upsetting (if you are like me), but you will see that this can be easily fixed !

I saw this technique on a hobby magazine. The author used it on a sturmtiger, but it can be applied to any large-barreled model.

I am going to add rifling detail to my (still unpainted) bombard.

I first take a thin polystyrene strip.

I cut a curved shape on a thick piece of polystyrene (to use it as a pattern) and paint evenly spaced marks on the thin strip.

I used the pattern to make light grooves with my scriber.

This is the finished piece, although I should have cut the ends following the grooves... Now there is going to be a line where the ends met (next time I'll do it right).

The finished piece once it is glued on place.

There is a nasty line where the ends met... I'll fix it with some putty, although I strongly recommend you to cut the ends folloving the curved grooves shape.

Now, you artillery will shine :)

Finished Forgeworld Centaur

2007-08-31T19:43:00.000+01:00

I finally completed my Forgeworld Centaur. Just in time for the WIP Lt Walke Challenge. I wanted to enter a scratchbuilt vehicle too (something a bit crazy: a DKOK armoured trench-maker) but real life issues prevented me from finishing it on time. Maybe for the next contest...

The great thing about these contests is that they give you that extra motivation you need to finish your works. Something that I need from time to time.

Those last weeks, I added the crew, dirtied everything a little more and changed the front light for something more realistic.

This is the result. Hope you like it! Now it's time to decide what I do next...

Rust weathering tutorial (With MIG Pigments)

2007-08-18T20:18:00.000+01:00

Today we are going to talk about rust effects on scale models. We are going to do a quick approach to rusting techniques using pigments and a little oil paint.

Rust is an important part of a weathered model, but as with any weathering technique it is easy to overdo it. We should be always very careful when applying it, understanding how rust develops, under what kind of ambient conditions and checking continously against reference material.

In nature, rust appears as a reaction of the metallic elements of a vehicle (for example) and oxigen. This reaction will be accelerated by the presence of water, specially salt water, and damped in dry ambient. Having said that, a vehicle abandoned on a beach will not rust in the same way as a vehicle operating on a desert. Weathering on your model should always be consistent with the conditions it is supposed to suffer.

We are try to quickly replicate four types of rust. It is going to be a little too quick, so the results will be certainly overkill, but this is just to see some easy techniques that produce very good rust finishes with little effort.

Moderate rust over painted surface: The paint will have some rust points. This happens when water gets into a scratch and rust start to develop.
Serious rust over painted surface : The rusted points have developed a lot over time, making a sort of craters on the paint. This kind of rust only develops on unattended vehicles on very wet conditions (or the ones belonging to a Chaos Army, of course...)
Bare metal rusted away : Just a bare metal surface with some serious rust.
Extremely rusted surface : This only happen when you have something rusting away during ages on a very wet ambient (like a beach).

Enough talk for the moment! Let's start working on it.

I have a resin miscast lying around that will serve for our purposes:

I do a quick priming job with some grey Vallejo paint and divide it in four regions. As this is going to be something really quick, I will not use an airbrush at all. Dry times will be sped up with a hairdryer.

I will need some texture for effects 2 and 4, so I start preparing some dilluted PVA.

I apply it over area #4.

And then I sprinckle bicarbonate over it, eliminating the excess.

I apply some PVA in area #2, on the places where I want a rust "crater" to break the paint and add more bicarbonate.

Now I paint the rust craters on #2 and the entire #3 and #4 areas with a dark rust colour. In our case, I used Vallejo Panzer Aces 302 "Dark Rust". Once it is dry we have the undercoat ready.

Now I protect the rust craters with some liquid mask. I used Vallejo Liquid Mask, but you could use Maskol or any similar product.

Better apply it with a toothpick, because this stuff literally stucks to the paintbrushes, leaving them unusable. I also put little drops elsewhere for further weathering.

Now we apply some paint coats. I do a 50/50 mix of acrylic paint and gloss varnish. I used Tamiya's X22 Clear and XF55 Deck Tan in our example.

The reason for the gloss varnish it's that it makes the paint much harder once dry, giving also a satin finish that is ideal for further weathering techniques. The only problem is that the paint will have less coverage, but as you normally use an airbrush to apply it this doesn't matter a lot. We also looked for a harder finish to develop the craters in #2.

As in this example we are not using an airbrush, I applied thin coats, drying them with a hairdryer. This had an unexpected and very interesting effect, as the varnish/paint mix will develop some cracks (exposing the undercoat) and texture when forced to dry. Something that we are going to use in our favor! (Although something to use very carefully in a plastic model, as you can literally melt the plastic!).

Now we are going to carefully remove liquid mask with a cutter and a pair of tweezers. Don't worry if you leave some liquid mask on the borders, this is exactly the effect we want.

This is the result.

Now, we are going to develop a bare metal finish for #3. Just rub a pure graphite stick over the undercoat and then burnish the graphite with your finger. You can add some reflects in silver, but it's not really neccesary.

Time for your trusty pigments. I use MIG pigments for many reasons. They have the right colours, they come in small quantities (lasting years of normal use) and I find they have a fair quality/price relationship.

MIG produces three rust shades atthe moment (and copper rust), but you can also use other pigments to gain chromatic variety. I normally use P230 Old Rust, P025 Standard Rust, P024 Light Rust, P033 Dark Mud and P031 Vietnam earth. But you can play with other shades... You never know when you are going to discover something new (as seen with the paint and the hairdryer before).

Now we do a wash using odourless turpentine (Talens 089) and a little P230 Dark Rust. You could also use alcohol instead of turpentine, but as the paint is not cured overnight I would ruin everything in a matter of seconds. Better stick to the turpentine for now.

I apply the wash to the rusted areas, I dillute it even more and give an irregular glaze over the painted areas.

We let it dry, and repeat the operation with P025 Standard Rust, letting dry again and then with P024 Light Rust. I dilluted the wash a bit more at each step. This is the result once everything is dry:

Now we get a little Dark Umber oil paint. I used Van Gogh oils, but you can use any oil brand available. Do not try to substitute it with acrylics or gouaches. Water based products will not interact with the mineral spirits we are using here. And water do not have the right surface tension to do this effects (once you try a turpentine-based wash, there is no way back!).

I paint some Dark Umber points over the painted areas.

In theory, I should use my airbrush to pump turpentine at low psi over the oil paint. This will make the points fade and develop a nice rust point effect. As I am not going to use an airbrush, I just put some turpentine drops over the painted areas with an eyedropper and then I blended the point very carefully with a pointed brush.

This is the result once dry. It lacks some shadows and variety, as there are only rust effects everywhere. The light rust it's a bit excesive on this area, so I should have darkened it a bit with a dark wash. A last thing, if those rust points were on a vertical surface, I would have done rust streaks running down instead of letting them accumulate around the rust point.

This is the metal area. Nothing to say here, although at this state it's a bit boring. I would probably had put some dust and more rust tones to make it more interesting.

The Extra-Rusted surface is really easy to do. A bit monochrome... Maybe it still needs some light coloured washes to break monotony.

And last, but not least... My favourite one. I would still darken the rust a bit, make some shadows and dust the area a little, but if you zoom on the image, you'll see that this technique gives a very realistic chipped paint texture effect. If the craters where more naturally placed and with just a bit more of work, the effect would be very realistic in deed.

DIY Punch and Die set (Rivets, Bolts and Nuts tutorial)

2007-08-02T11:18:00.000+01:00

As I feel too lazy to do a proper post (weather it's too hot in Spain at this time of the year), I will revamp an earlier one I did on WIP about riveting techniques. Hope you like it :)

In fact, I have been asked many times how do I produce all those rivets I use on my scratch built models (about 500 hundred for a medium tank).

Having the right tool at hand helps a lot. However, the tools available at stores are pretty expensive (check this excellent tool from Historex Agents):

Historex's Punch and Die set

If we want to produce simple flat, round rivets (there is also one set for hex nuts and bolts, but it is outside of the scope of this tutorial), there is a simple way to build a homemade punch and die set... This is how I made mine:

We will need the following tools:

Low-speed/High-torque drill/screwdriver. You can use a normal drill, but avoid high-speed settings. The one shown here simply excels at making small diameter holes in hard materials.
Drill bits. One for each rivet diameter desired. Those ones are already prepared for electric screwdrivers.
For diameters under 1 millimeter, you will need normal bits and:
Finger chuck for screwdrivers. It is is used to adapt the bits to the screwdriver (you can substitute the screwdriver for another power tool, but I recommend you to use always low rpm's if you don't want to snap bit after bit).
Center punch. For marking the start of the hole in the metal.
Hammer (same as above).
Oil. Used to lubricate bits while drilling metal. Just place some drops from time to time or the bit could get stuck and break.

This image shows the materials I used:

You will need:

A piece of steel. I bought it at a hardware store.
A piece of clear plastic of the same size. I obtained it from one discarded bay cover of my PC.
2 small brass (or plastic, wood, whatever...) rods with top screws. The screws are nice, but not really needed, I took those from my office.
You can not see it, but there are four adhesive pads on the bottom to separate it from the working surface.

I put together the metal and plastic plates, securing them with strong adhesive tape, I drilled the holes for the brass rods at both ends of the metal piece, starting to drill from metal to the plastic (this is important) and trying to dril the hole as perpendicular as possible (if you have a drill press, use it).

Then I glued the brass rods to the metal piece. What we have now is a metal base with a clear plastic cover that can be raised. Now, what we have to do is to drill other holes anywhere you like for each rivet size desired.

We have finished our die. To use it, slide a plasticard sheet inside, trap it with the clear lid, put a punch in its hole (as shown above) and use the hammer.

You wil probably not find punches for the smaller rivet sizes (1 mm or less). However, I found a solution in the page of a german guy (Unfortunately, that page no longer works).

He simply used the same drills used to drill the holes as punches (the flat part gets in contact with the plasticard). I have reserved some cheap or broken drills for this.

Time to start riveting our models!

RIVETS

You well need the punch and die set, suitable punches, a small hammer, some glue, a hobby knife and a little (rather thin) plasticard.

You can see that I have made many small plasticard disks, now I will put then in place.

First, I put a small drop of glue in place.

Then I hold a rivet using the point of a hobby knife (if you use a new blade, this is much better than using tweezers, believe me) and put it in place.

The final result:

BOLTS AND NUTS

There are punch and die sets capable of making hex pieces, but for our purposes we will suppose we do not have one of them.

In order to do the nuts we will need hex poliestirene rods of different measurements:

I select the desired width and cut regular slices with my hobby knife.

I put a drop of styrene cement in place

And put the bolt on.

If I wanted to do a nut and bolt, I would then do some rivets, smaller than the nut I have just did.

Then I put a drop of cement in place...

And proceed exactly as I did above with the rivets:

And that is. As you can see it is not very difficult, it just requires a little patience to be done. You can also use those tiny styrene disks as other things instead of rivets: coins, lids, lenses, etc.

Forgeworld Centaur

2007-07-20T18:41:00.000+01:00

All my friends know my opinion about Forgeworld... I had always maintained that quality-price relationship was not good enough.. That you could scratchbuild better models on a fraction of the cost, and so on... you know that I mean.

Well, at least it was until they released their Death Korps of Krieg Range. Then I had to admit that the figures were in fact... very interesting... German-like gas-masked troops? count me in... Even worse, Forgeworld continued releasing more Krieg tanks, support weapons, infantry... Real-looking trenches... Wow! Those guys must have been somehow reading our collective-gamer mind.

Then, I finally cracked and bought some DKOK stuff from Forgeworld. It was expensive, but I was not dissapointed when I got it on my hands.

I am going to talk here about the little Centaur gun carrier... It is my first experience with Forgeworld resin range (not my first experience with resin, as you know) and I had learnt some things on the way.

The kit is presented in a bag, with an instructions leaflet wich is very clear. Some pieces had a little warpage. some had casting defects and all of them were covered in that resilient demoulding agent everybody knows about.

Casting quality of the vehicle is not too bad, although not to the moderns standards of some aftermarket brands on 1:35. Compared to other older Forgeworld kits I ordered in the same batch it is clear that they have improved a lot, but you should expect some nasty moulding lines and other defects requiring filling, sanding and sometimes reconstructing rivet detail and so. That might sound bad, but this is in fact something normal in most resin kits on the market.

On the other hand, casting quality of the troopers is simply astounding. Nearly invisible moulding lines, practically no defects or bubbles and an incredible level of detail (I DO know I am going to enjoy painting them).

Those are the pieces presented in the kit:

I did some colour testing before even thinking about cleaning the pieces. I prefer to see the actual coulours in a piece of white paper instead of comparing them on the jars. For this model I am going to use the Vallejo Model Air range. It is like the standard vallejo paint, but already dilluted for airbrush use.

Well, I also did as everyone recommends in the forums around. Wash the pieces in hot water, using soap and a toothbrush. I really tried to remove the demoulding agent, but you'll see later that this stuff is really horrible! Next time I'll test some lacquer thinner... let's see who is the winner (I hope not to melt the resin with it, this is why I call it a test).

As you see, there are some imperfections that I am going to remove with those burrs and my trusty Dremel tool.

I had to practically redo this slot, something easy with a Dremel in hand.

This is the nasty moulding line I talked before. I simply flattened the area with a diamond coated file and reconstructed missing details with plasticard rivets.

The model is already primed and basecoated. I used Vallejo's primer and then a mix of Model Air paint and X22 Tamiya Clear varnish. Adding gloss varnish to the base coat gives it further adherance and strength. It also gives it a satin finish wich is useful when weathering the model.

I masked it with Tamiya's Masking Tape and gave it the next colour coat.

Like this.

I masked it again, giving it the third coulour coat.

I removed the masking tape to show the camo pattern (did I mentioned I did not like it at all?). You can also see that the demoulding agent is still there (look to the right part of the model). I really don't know what kind of demoulder Forgeworld is using, maybe something from the Chaos Lords. But I can assure you that it is really a pain to work with it.

In any case, I solve it doing a mix of the missing colour, X22 and applying it by brush.

Anyway, I do not like my coulour choice, even after adding some filters.

Time to start again. I always say that it's better to start again than trying to correct a mistake. I mask the model again.

And use different coulours this time.

Now, that is different.

Third coulour is a) too similar to the one I used on the habitacle and b) I used too much varnish (can you see the seams?).

No problem at all, I am going to weather heavily this little fella. So I'll use those seams to my advantage.

Of course, what we get now is a boring, monochrome, and uninteresting model. Weathering is supposed to tell us a story. I want to give the viewer the impression that this Centaur is operating in the harsh conditions of trench war scenario. There is plenty of mud, and the crew had not the time to properly clean it after a while. There is going to be a mix of new, fresh mud over dry mud layers. Some rust and many scratches are going to be present too.

I used the same techniques I shown you in the Painting and Weathering Tutorial. It is still WIP, as I have to work to do in the mud (doing mud properly can take you longer than the model itself, mud is a world in its own) but you can see how the Centaur is going to look.

Next time I'll finish the vehicle and start working on the crew.

Death Korps of Krieg Earthshaker

2007-06-23T21:32:00.000+01:00

Some busy weeks have passed on real life, meaning that I did not have the spare time or energy to properly update this blog.

I hope to change things a little in the future and add new tutorials... For the moment being, I am going to talk about my Death Korps of Krieg Earthshaker project.

I started this project as I leaved on Easter Holydays. As I was not to be at at home, having limited resources then, I wanted to start something that was simple to build.

I thought that I could buy a 1:35 kit and convert it to W40K standards instead of building everything from scratch. I finally chose the M115 Howitzer from AFV Club as the base for the earthshaker.

The  model's  detail  is  very  fine,  sporting  an aluminum barrel (with rifling detail inside) rubber wheels and many tiny pieces. After building so  many  GW  models,  I  even  found  challenging  to  mount  some parts correctly.

I  thought  that  the  way  of  turning  this model to a 40k one, included building DKOK wheels and a gun shield from scratch.

I built the first wheel prototype, which I did not completely liked. Then did a second one, avoiding the mistakes I did on the first one. I find it is  faster  to  sometimes  start again from zero than trying to fix early mistakes.

Once it was finished, the good wheel was resin cast to make ten copies.

The smaller wheels are intended for my future superheavy tank projects.

Once I had added all custom pieces on the model, I started to think about the leg ends. After checking a lot of references in www.tanxheaven.com I built the ends from scratch. I also added some working detail for making the link to the towing cart.

The result is way bigger than its Forgeworld counterpart, but well, this is 40K after all!

I first thought to use a trojan to tow the gun, but I think I'll build a custom carrier in the near (I hope) future...

Painting and Weathering Tutorial: Part IV (and last)

2007-05-27T12:21:00.000+01:00

PART I
PART II
PART III
PART IV

Today, we are going to finish this tutorial. I have also edited previous entries to put the exact paint I used on each stage, so feel free to check them again.

You'll notice that I painted some small areas, like the storm bolter and so. Those are not important enough to enter on details, just put a coat or two of Vallejo Model Color or Humbrol Enamels..

We are going to continue painting all optics (periscope lenses, etc.) on Humbrol Silver #11. Once the enamel is dry, I cover it with Tamiya Clear Blue X23. This is a transparent paint that gives the lenses a natural finish. I let everything dry before going to the next step. I put a drop of Microscale Micro Krystal Klear in a the concave fitting I let express in the model to accommodate a light.

I use again my graphite stick on the tow cable, then I rub it with my finger to burnish it a little.

Once finished, it's time to give a nice gloss coat to the optics. I use Humbrol Gloss Vanirsh (the best gloss varnish IMO).

This is the concave fitting I told you before. Once the Micro Krystal Klear is dry it becomes transparent, it just needs a little varnish coat to look very nice!

You'll notice that I not use the common technique used by W40K modelers of painting by hand gemlike reflects. I thought about it and decided that being this model a mix of "traditional" modeling techniques applied to 40K, I would use something different for the optics.

Now we are going to use another technique based on pigments. I do a very diluted mix of MIG pigments Copper Rust P26 and Ashes White P22 on alcohol.

I lightly apply this pigment suspension on alcohol to some selected areas. Once dry, the pigments will show, giving some interesting effects. Look at the rusted area up to the center and the tow cable.

As you can imagine, putting alcohol over acrylics is risky, so pay attention to not add too much. The paint will soft under the effect of the alcohol, so be careful on where do you place your fingers! See below to see what happened to me...

No problem, we'll fix it later adding mud and dust. I add now some rust coloured pigment mix I had laying around to give the problematic area a darker shade.

Another view of the (good) effects of the pigment suspension.

As the tank is nearly finished, I am going to paint the ammunition boxes. I fix them on a temporary base and paint them by brush with enamels. I used Humbrol #34, #94 and Revell #65.

Once they are dry (2 hours at least), I give them an oil wash of Burnt sienna

Once the wash is dry (overnight), I add MIG pigment P230, Old Rust diluted in alcohol to further weather them.

I will use Faber Castell coloured pencils to do some scratches to the boxes.

I glue them on place...

...and prepare to move on.

The effect is too exaggerated, but we are going to blend it adding dust.

Time to dust the model! We prepare a very diluted mix of Tamiya XF57 Buff and XF52 Flat Earth.

We start pre-dusting the model adding a very irregular layer of acrylics where we want to add dust.

The effect is very subtle, but it will help to fix the dust in next stage.

I now choose MIG Pigments P28 Europe Dust and P33 Dark Mud.

I add them dry, with the help of a brush, forcing them to the recesses. I put the darker shade in the parts that are hidden. The lighter shade will be placed in the open areas. It is important to not put dust in the areas used by the crew to access the vehicle.

Once the pigment is in place, we add some drops of turpentine (I strongly recommend you odourless turpentine. I used Talens 089 Odourless White Spirit) to fix it in place.

We can use a brush to move the pigments around.

Now we let the turpentine dry.

Once dry, I used my finger to remove dust from some areas. This is how it looks now.

Now, we recover the mud mix we did in PART III and add a little water.

Using a hard bristle brush, we can blow compressed air with the help of an airbrush to do some mud splashes (you better try it before in a piece of card!).

Time to add some dry P23 Black Smoke pigment to the engine exhausts...

...and to the muzzle brake.

Finally! The last stage!

I do a mix of Humbrol Gloss Varnish, Black oil colour and white spirit. I'll use this mix to carefully paint oil and gas (promethium, of course) spills.

I also added to the turret ring.

And sparingly to some points on the tracks.

Now it's time to look at you model and eliminate excess dusting with a little cotton and turpentine.

Officially finished!

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial as much as I did.

See you next soon with more ideas!